Seasoned poker pros like Phil Hellmuth rarely put their tournament lives at risk unless they have no other alternative or are certain they are heavily favored to win the hand.

Written by

Mike Gainey
Best Bets correspondent

If you play tournament poker, then you should be familiar with "The Decision."

It's the decision that may send you to the rail, knocked out of the tournament.

Many players will put their tournament life on the line in any perceived coin-flip situation. Of course, anytime I'm in a situation that is perceived to be a toss-up, I think of one of Murphy's lesser-known sayings: "Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of winning, there is a 90 percent probability that you will lose." ...